MUSIC. Main Square, Printemps de Bourges, international concerts, discover this group from Lille, between post-punk and garage rock

Don’t expect to sit still with Naked Soft Men: between post-punk and garage rock, this young trio from Lille would restore energy to any sleeping soul. Discover them on stage before the release of their third EP in 2025.

Naked Soft Men: yes, like you, we still wonder about the meaning of the name of this group which oscillates between post-punk and garage rock style. Are these “naked and gentle men” who are going to give us a furious set? Answer to follow by opening wide your hatches and your peepers.

“We haven’t really managed to define our style yet, but we could say thatwe’re getting closer to Garage Punk“, whispers Paul Gouttin, one of the two lead voices and drummer of the group.

What is certain is that it is impossible to remain insensitive and immobile: we are taken by the guitar riffs, the inexhaustible beating drums, the depth of the sound imposed by the bass, by an overall energy which seems tell us: “Live and dance, whatever happens”.

Another strength: their repertoire is original and creative, our three friends draw their inspiration from the most extravagant situations in life. “We experienced a funny situation, we want to write about it“, reveals Jonathan Maupin, the guitarist and second lead voice.

Sometimes, they start from a book to write their music – from a short story by Edgar Allan Poe for example – or even, they transcribe films into songs. This is the case for track five of their live: Lighthouse was composed and written after a screening of Robert Eggers’ film, The Lighthousewith Willem Dafoe and Robert Pattinson as the main actors.

Thus, we are eagerly awaiting the release of their third EP in 2025. We do not know more at the moment about the date to note in our diaries, but we are lucky to have a preview of it in the mini- concert Les Hauts en Scènes that Naked Soft Men delivered to us. One day in November 2024, the temperature rose in our studios. To discover without further delay.

Discover the six titles that the group Naked Soft Men offered us in the France 3 studios.

• Big Bag of Chips
• Looking for something
• Trouble
• Side Effect
• Lighthouse
• Short Life

Florian Senlecq is on bass and provides backing vocals; Paul Gouttin vocals and drums; Jonathan Maupin voice and guitar.

Through this concert, our three musicians, who have been working together since fall 2021, gave us an overview of their musical evolution: If Lighthousecomes from their first EP – Hair salonunveiled at the end of 2022 – , Big Bad of Chips or Looking for Something belong to the playlist of the second EP, Bad Daddy, which the group describes as “an exploratory stage of the group’s neuroses and aesthetic principles.

Exclusively, you were able to discover Trouble et Short Lifetwo titles to be published in their third opus in 2025. This last title “marks the beginning of the sequel“, John tells us. “Cis the new Naked Soft Men, with all the experience we have been able to acquire“, he continues. And Paul explains to us: “John and Flo exchange their instruments, we set up a new movement during our live shows“. The adventure has only just begun.

Despite its youth, Naked Soft Men already has quite a few concerts under its belt, some of which are international. The musical influence that comes from the UK scene has certainly allowed it to benefit from a tvery warm welcome across the Channel with concerts in Manchester or Glasgow and, closer to us, in Brussels at Chaff, for example.

We will note a remarkable passage in Main Square 2024, on the regional scene of Bastion or their regional selection of Unheard of at the Printemps de Bourges last.

And indeed, the group seems to be setting its milestones. From the outset, the musicians were able to surround themselves with the self-production of their first records.

Quite naturally, they were supported by regional structures: support from La Cave aux Poètes, integration of the La Malterie studios, residency at 4 Écluses.

Our three friends were then able to count on strong support for the production of their first clip. Bad Daddy.

This clip was produced by the Ciel Rose agency, co-financed by Pictanovo, with the support of the Hauts-de-France Regional Council. But what we like, above all, is the atmosphere that emanates from it: you find there all the ingredients of a good punk-rock-blues, a kind of insolent energy with progressive vocal and musical build-ups. Not even surprised, then, to see our three guys running in their underwear on the beaches of Ambleteuse and Audresselles. We want to shout with them, to let go.

Their answers to our questions then come to mind. If the musicians, with the maturity they have gained on the project, increasingly integrate a reflection, a message into their songs, “without it necessarily being politicized, but with a social tint; with our generation, it’s complicated to miss“, Jonathan tells us, they also want to keep a “instinct” in their relationship with their audience, a raw lyric that goes well with the rhythm of punk music, bordering on ska sometimes.

We want to make people dance, to make them disconnect from their own reality.

Jonathan Maupin

Naked Soft Men interview, “Les Hauts en Scènes”, November 2024.

Serious meaning, sometimes, in the lyrics of their songs – Pow Pow for example, in the second EP is an anti-war text – but always with this touch of humor which prevents us from sinking into the mists of an English or Scottish country, or the gray of our Opal Coast.

These three, through their compositions, have the power to bring out light. Paul exhorts us to do “slam, hugs or pogos” with them. All this at once, it’s possible with Naked Soft Men. “It fluctuates, it’s a journey Naked Soft Men“, adds Paul.

Are we ready to follow them on this journey? And you ?

>> February 3, 2024meet Naked Soft Men at the Bulle Café in Lille for one of their last concerts before locking themselves in a studio to concoct a very beautiful album.

Then on March 22, “Live entre les livres” at the Thiembronne media library (62)
March 27 Brasserie de l’Ermitage in Brussels
March 29 “Live between the books” at the Wormhout media library
May 15 The Pirate Moon in Amiens

>> BONUS : If you want to discover Paul’s culinary advice or their super original ritual before going on stage, it’s here with the Insta interview.

>> Join us on Wednesday January 29 at 11:55 p.m. on France 3 Nord Pas-de-Calais and France 3 Picardie for a unique concert from your sofa, followed by the live “Les Hauts en Scènes” by Picardy artist Etienne Détré.